QOTD: "Melgen has been a generous political contributor to Menendez’s campaign, and reportedly donated more than $60,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee during Menendez’s tenure as DSCC chairman. Melgen is an affluent eye doctor and businessman whose friendship with Menendez dates back to the 1990s, and the New Jersey senator has admitted that he flew to the Dominican Republic aboard Melgen’s private jet. Exactly what Menendez did during his stays at Melgen’s mansion at Casa de Campo, a seaside luxury resort development, is a matter of dispute. At least one Dominican prostitute reportedly said last year that Menendez participated in a series of sex parties arranged by Melgen. “That senator also likes the youngest and newest girls,” the woman said in an April e-mail forwarded by the tipster and translated by the Daily Caller. The woman, whose services were reportedly acquired through an escort service called “The Doll Palace,” wrote that she had three trysts with Menendez in 2009: “The first one in February, and then in May and June. I recall his visit in June so well because that month was my 17th birthday.”

This is certainly a serious allegation because, while prostitution is legal in the Dominican Republic, having sex with 16-year-olds is definitely against the law. Yet Menendez insists that he never had sex with anyone at any time during his Dominican trips. “Now, nobody can find [the prostitutes],” Menendez told CNN’s Bash in their Monday interview. “No one ever met them. No one ever talked to them, but that’s where we’re at. So the bottom line is all of those smears are absolutely false and, you know, that’s the bottom line.”

Again, however, the Menendez denial is false. Matthew Boyle says he interviewed two of the women last year, and Boyle is adamant in his belief that these accusers were telling the truth. This presents a rather tricky dilemma for any journalist: Who is more trustworthy, a Dominican prostitute or a New Jersey Democrat?" --Robert Stacy McCain